WASHINGTON (DC News Now) — After a fatal hit-and-run on Christmas Eve along C Street in Northeast D.C., residents near the crash site are sharing concerns about a new traffic pattern aimed at protecting pedestrians and bicyclists.
DC police say Ronnie Clark, a 66-year-old resident in Northeast, was hit and killed by a driver who ran away from the crash site at around 7 p.m. Tuesday.
The SUV recovered on scene made its way over C St. westbound curb and onto the sidewalk, near 16th Street and North Carolina Avenue, after “traveling at a high rate of speed and lost control,” according to a preliminary report by police.
The exact cause of the crash that killed Clark is still under investigation, but neighbors believe the tragedy will bring new focus to their safety concerns about the new curbs drivers are running over.
Six people living nearby lamented the recent traffic configuration Friday, which separates C St and North Carolina Avenues, and accommodated a new bike lane.
However, drivers are jumping the newly installed curbs at 16th and C St, which ultimately narrowed the roadway.
“They jump the curb on a daily basis,” said Antonio Crudup, who grew up several doors down from where Clark was killed.
While interviewing neighbors about their concerns, a DC News Now crew at the scene saw a driver who crashed into one of the new curbs Friday afternoon.
Crudup estimated that drivers hit the curbs “fix to six times,” daily.
A spokesperson for the DC Department of Transportation (DDOT) responded to DC News Now’s request for comment Friday, saying, “safety features like narrowing the roadway and protected bike lanes are put in place to help slow drivers down, make it easier for drivers to see pedestrians and to add a buffer to help protect cyclists.”
While there are two large yellow pedestrian crossing signs just prior to the newly installed curbs before the bike lane, there are no speed bumps or stop signs leading up to them. The curbs are also smeared with tire marks.
“I don’t know who developed this, but they did a crappy job,” said Raymond “Twin” Gallmon who lives nearby.
DC News Now crews also saw that the entrance to the new bike park at the 16th Street intersection is wide enough to fit a car.
Gallmon was among three people living nearby who have seen people driving on the bike lane.
The DDOT spokesperson did not specifically say if any changes to the new traffic configuration would be made, citing that transportation officials and police first work to determine the cause of a crash, and later decided if any changes to traffic patterns are needed.
“After a crash, DDOT follows a thorough process to evaluate the circumstances surrounding a crash. This process includes meeting with the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) to gather further details about the crash and conducting a site visit by our engineering team. Following these visits, the engineers begin working on potential safety improvements based on what they find,” said the DDOT spokesperson.
